Survey: 34 percent think U.S. support for Israel hurts America with other nations

Tuesday

Jul 15, 2014 at 11:00 AM

In a poll of 1,000 likely U.S. one-out-of-three believe U.S. support for Israel hurts this country with other nations while 42 percent believe the Palestinians are more to blame for the escalating military conflict in Gaza and only 15 percent think the Israelis are chiefly to blame. However, a sizable 43% are undecided.

Fifty-four percent say the United States should stay entirely out of the conflict. Thirty-two percent believe we should help defend the Israelis. Just 3 percent think the United States should help defend the Palestinians instead.

Twenty-five percent believe the United States, generally speaking, is too supportive of Israel, up five points from last November. Slightly more (28 percent) say America is not supportive enough of its longtime Middle East ally, but that’s a six-point drop from the previous survey. Thirty-one percent rate the level of U.S. support for Israel as about right. Sixteen percent) are not sure.

Thirty-four percent think U.S. support for Israel hurts the United States with other nations, compared to just 19 percent who believe U.S. support for the Jewish state helps this country. Twenty-two percent say the relationship has no impact on America’s standing with other nations. One-in-four (25 percent) are not sure.

Separate surveying finds that 37 percent of voters believe U.S. involvement in Middle Eastern politics hurts stability in that region, and 50 percent say that involvement is bad for America.